Give Me a Caution Sign

Seriously, I think I need blinking hazard lights to warn everyone I am near. I teased about Tim spilling the beans, but I have had more than my share of uh ohs lately. My poor mom got a large tub of popcorn dumped on her at the movies on Monday. She's sweet, she just said "these pants needed to be washed anyway".

Not sure how well you can see the mess, but this is what happens when you turn on the blender with a measuring cup inside. It blew the lid off and the pancake batter ended up everywhere. After that one, I cried and Tim cleaned.

One minute the salt shaker was in my hand, the next, it was in pieces on the floor. Tim doesn't even react anymore, he just goes and gets the camera.You have been warned, hide the good dishes and don't wear dry clean only when I am around.

Merry Christmas!

The images are pretty small but can be enlarged if you click on each one.

No joke, Tim seriously spilled the beans. We were headed to a Christmas party and had a crock pot full of beans. We had made it all the way from Provo to Kaysville and were making the last turn to his parents house when I heard them tip. I must have sounded panicked when I told Tim they were spilling because he slammed on his brakes. Not a good idea given the circumstances. The beans went from slightly spilled, to this....
A small amount stayed in the pot and was enjoyed by a few lucky ones. In the clean up effort Tim ended up with beans on his pants and sweatshirt, and I somehow had a bunch on the back of my leg. It was a sweet smell all the way home.

Oh What Fun It Is To Ride...

We were wishing for a one horse open sleigh, or at least a sun roof. On Monday we had dinner together then went to see the lights in Spanish Fork at Canyon View Park. Do you know what is more fun than just seeing the lights on your own? Cram eight adults and four wiggly kids into a mini van and then go see the lights. I seriously have not laughed that hard in a long time. Cory tried to be the grinch and keep us in our own cars, but that ruins half the fun. Notice, he didn't make his way into the pics, hmmmm.

I think Tim wins the award for best sport of the night. That second row does not have a bench seat, he was balanced between the two captain chairs for the whole ride. And he is even smiling! Must have been the Christmas carols.

If you are itching to go see the lights, but not sure you have quite enough people to pack your car, give us a call, we are always up for round two.

Easiest Thanksgiving Ever!

I know a lot of people get super stressed with the holidays, especially Thanksgiving cooking. Not me this year. Just because I'm a giver, I'll share with you my easy peasy steps to a stress free Thanksgiving.

Step 1. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, call Mimis Cafe and tell them you would like to order their "Feast to Go".
Step 2. Stop by Target to pick up frozen rolls and a few pre-made appetizers.
Step 3. Thanksgiving morning sleep in, then go to the gym, spend as much time as you like.
Step 4. On your way home from the gym, stop at Mimis and pick up this box.


Step 5. This is where it gets tough. You have to take the food out of the box, put it in oven safe dishes, and put it all in the oven to warm.
Step 6. Watch the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, read the newspaper/shop Black Friday ads, etc.


Step 7. Set the table and dinner is served.
Note, I did resist the urge to make the dinner completely easy by using paper plates. I figured the least I could do to fancy up the meal would be to get out the china and real silverware.

Step 8. Enjoy! Seriously, the meal was almost as good as if I would have made it myself.

Step 9. Let someone else wash the dishes and pack up the leftovers, then spend the rest of the afternoon napping and reading.

Step 10. This was only because we were feeling extra energetic and could be avoided - drive to Midway to swim and sit in the hot tub with family.

Step 11. Top off the night with a slice of pumpkin pie.

The hardest part of the whole thing was remembering to upload the photos so I could finish the post. Not bad!

I Lost My Car

Seriously, it was like something out of a sitcom. When I pulled into the gym parking lot last night I was on the phone and paid zero attention to where I parked. Big mistake. It didn't seem like a big deal until it was time to go home and I realized that I had no idea where I parked my car. Did I mention that the parking lot is huge. Oh, and that I was in a short sleeve t-shirt with no jacket, flip flops and soaking wet hair. I started walking in the direction I thought I had parked, sure that I would spot it but pretty soon found myself wandering up and down every aisle. There are a lot of people who drive red SUVs. My key fob doesn't set off an alarm but does flash the lights so I kept hitting it in hopes that I would see the lights or hear the doors lock and unlock. I almost resorted to asking a stranger to drive me around but that seemed way over the line of pathetic. After about ten minutes I finally spotted the car and have never been so happy to see the trusty Pathfinder. Ten minutes may not seem like a long time, but it feels like forever when it is 23 degrees outside. By the time I got in the car my hair strands were frozen and my toes and fingers were numb. It took the rest of the night to get warm! Lesson learned.

Arthur Christmas

Last week we took seven kids to see Arthur Christmas. I told everyone that it was going to be Arthur's Christmas and expected a fairly childish story about the cute aardvark.

Turns out the movie we had tickets to see was actually called Arthur Christmas and is about Arthur, the bumbling son of Santa Claus, and youngest member of the Christmas family. Oops, not quite the same story, but lucky for us, this was so much better. According to Rotten Tomatoes: the movie at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child's question: 'So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?' The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns.
The movie was pretty much perfect for a kid's movie. We had seven kids ranging in age from 2 to 17 and everyone really liked the movie. It was entertaining and cute for kids, but had a lot of really witty humor which made it great for the adults. If you are looking for a movie to take the kids, I would definitely give it two thumbs up.